Mary...Interesting question. I think the MSM tends to latch onto the simplistic and finds explanations that sound good in a 30 second sound bite - hence "buyer paralysis", "stubborn sellers", "bargain hunting buyers", "greedy sellers", "frozen credit markets" etc Human behavior tends to so much more complicated. So where are the buyers? Hiding in foxholes? Maybe. I think all the reasons you listed above are reasonable. Price inflation, local economic conditions (I'm thinking Ohio and Michigan), negative herd mentality, buyer fatigue, a historically high rate of home ownership, tightened credit, higher interest rates - all factors which contribute to a dearth of buyers out there. Every sidelined buyer has their own story. I have mine. You have yours. Our personal equations are composed of many factors. My primary reasons for not buying are price, an inability to commit to owning more than 5 years, and an emotion aka stubborness. I'll be darned if I'm going to fund someone else's retirement by handing them a 500% profit on their home. But, I also think we underestimate how much of this housing boom was fueled by buyers believing that housing was a "can't miss" investing opportunity. The NAR estimates that by 2005, 40% of all home sales were purchased as second/vacation/investment properties. That's huge and it spells mania. Many "specuvestors" bought mulitple properties using exotic financing. Now, many of them are sellers. In 2006, 36% of all home sales fell into this category. I'm not sure that there are many people left who still believe that now is the time to invest in real estate. This country has just been through a housing mania of historic proportions. A lot of people made money and a lot of people are going to lose their shirts. The WSJ article that try99 links to in the "More on Foreclosures" thread is fascinating. Maybe, the only buyers left are the ones with great credit, healthy downpayments, and skeptical outlooks.

Don't know if this is a fair comparison, since we live in northern Virginia and we bought when it was Norco rather than Jeld-Wen, but we've had a Norco French door for ten years now and it has been great -- no finish problems, seals all fine, locking systems work, etc. It faces south onto a patio, with just a two-foot soffit/eave overhead.

I watched. It was pretty interesting...I don't remember the contestants having to do such physically demanding stuff last time around. Then again, my remember-er doesn't work too well sometimes. :-) I wanted to slap Dr. Whiner.

I've thought for a long time that people like me would be excellent as study subjects about weight and people's appetite set points because naturally I simply cannot eat as much food as seems to be normal, never have. Husband is the same; even our kids make fun of us. My daughter says we eat like rabbits and she's probably not that far off. So *for me* one of those tiny hamburgers and a half a bag of small fries from McDonalds is an ample meal. I usually can only handle a few swallows of soda too though I prefer to drink water. I actually strongly dislike even the feel of having a big mouthful of food in my mouth. So weight has never been a problem or even an issue--at 61 YO I currently weigh 3 pounds more than I did when I was 18. I am small boned but at 5'6" and weighing 120 lbs I"m not emaciated or tiny. I just never have had to worry about controlling how much I eat, and have never even been able to pack away a lot of food. Why is that? I don't know, just the way my body functions. I really think if science could figure it out and bottle it a lot of people would have an incredibly easier and healthier life. However, that said I'll ad one very negative consequence has been that I've always had a false sense that there was no need for me to exercise or be active since I was always thin...why bother? WRONG--and recently it's been a battle to start and maintain an exercise and weight training regimen so I don't end up the skinniest old lady on the orthopedic rehab floor!